We strive to provide the best member experiences in every interaction. With almost 1 million active members across Alberta, we use technology to bridge the gap and provide services over this large geographic location.

We have standardized on the Cisco Nexus platform for our network operations across 18 centres, which includes wireless and switching technologies in many of our buildings. Perhaps most importantly, the Nexus platform is helping our IT team think beyond the racks – focusing on how we can better serve our members and employees instead of just ‘keeping on the lights.’

In particular we are using the massive data capabilities Cisco’s Nexus 5000 products give us to focus on innovative project launches which enhance our online and mobile capabilities. This means giving our customers the ability to interact with our services however, and whenever, they want, on any device.

One mobile app we have developed gives customers who are stranded on the side of the road the ability to track their tow truck service in real-time via GPS. Users can locate their tow trucks on a map as well as see an estimated time of arrival for their towing service.

In the future, we’re looking at building out custom apps that run on iPhone and Android devices. One idea is to create a bandwidth-intensive app that delivers streaming video via Wi-Fi to customers in AMA’s driver education centres. Users would be able to view informational videos as they wait to take their test.

As we move in this direction our data centres and network become even more critical to our operation. Our goal is to give all members the ability to access AMA services via the web and their smartphone devices – something which can be incredibly taxing to a company’s data centre when you consider the high volume of mobile data traffic and security requirements of online banking and insurance operations.

But over the past year we have continued to redesign our core network to align with Cisco validated designs and combat these issues. This will ensure we have the best network capabilities possible, and the best user experience.

Throughout this project however we discovered a number of other innovative ways to build on our Cisco network. Things like social media monitoring, retail space applications, mobile device platforms for integration into our contact centre and improved data center management. We are looking at implementing a number of these innovative solutions – such as the ability to integrate social feeds into our systems and respond to members over Facebook – over the coming months.

In the end, enhancing the member experience, providing customers will the highest level s of network security and delivering these services in a cost effective manner are crucial elements of our work.

Using Cisco to help reach these goals is a wise investment for us. We know our investments are safe and secure for years to come. We know the technology is ensuring our organization’s security requirements are being met. And we know that our technical folks are very comfortable with Cisco technology.

Some of the individuals posting to this site, including the moderators, work for Cisco Systems. Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors, not of Cisco. The content is provided for informational purposes only and is not meant to be an endorsement or representation by Cisco or any other party. This site is available to the public. No information you consider confidential should be posted to this site. By posting you agree to be solely responsible for the content of all information you contribute, link to, or otherwise upload to the Website and release Cisco from any liability related to your use of the Website. You also grant to Cisco a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free and fully-paid, transferable (including rights to sublicense) right to exercise all copyright, publicity, and moral rights with respect to any original content you provide. The comments are moderated. Comments will appear as soon as they are approved by the moderator.